Oh god, those brutal picks. At least I have both the Archives, AND two titanite. One is definitely going to a Jumpship. First order of business is to get rid of that Raid Engine on Osmoian. At least after I set up my defenses. Oh, and the AI has Eye Bots.

Raids and Champion take out the Raid Engine. Only one of the starships die! The only notable part of the wave it spawns is a Plasma MK3 starship, which gets a nice hit on my home FF and takes out all of my engineers. I build more fixed defenses, and now I'm running at 5k energy. At the half-hour mark, Losgar is neutered. My best option is probably to drop a Mil II on it and fortify the hell out of the planet before moving my front line up to Imbar and Osmoian. While I'd like to use Kanak, double Raid Engines kind of prevents that. Though I could be funny and try and turn it into a huge fortress and tank Core Raid Engines all the time. As if. I'll do the first survey. Next signal is on Imbar.

My plan for Losgar: Wait for the next two waves, and then speed-colonize it. I'm actually going to drop a Mil III on the planet. I think I'll need it. At 46 minutes, the AI goes down and my station goes up, promptly covered by 2 regular and 2 hardened FFs, with more going on the Factory (which I doubt will last) and the golem. Then for some reason the special forces show up. Already, they've become troublesome.

As usual, setting up all my turrets costs me 100k+ energy and practically bankrupts me, but it's worth it. Then I get lucky: I get a splinter faction base that gives me 75k energy and 50 metal/s. So I spend it on turrets.

First wave to Losgar: Advanced Factory immediately eats it. Not surprising, considering it was in the middle of the gravity well and the AI has infiltrators and eye bots. Armored Golem comes online at 1:26. I used this guy in my last game; he's 10/10.

1:30 is a good place to leave this And it turns out that Imbar has not one, but two Cursed Golems. I know what I want to capture.

That's what the Mil III stations are for. Can't kill me if I can see you.

I have two options: Take Imbar for the two Cursed Golems and Titanite, or take Osmoian for a Black Widow Golem, ARS, and Titanite. The Osmoian ARSs have Gravity Rippers/Polarizers/Munitions Boosters, and Autobomb/Torpedo Frigates(!)/Blade Spawners. Thanks to that Raid Engine earlier, I have just enough hacking points for Osmoian. Plus, there's that nuke eye on Imbar that I don't want to deal with yet.

Osmoian is going to get a beachead for hacking, but I need to do something about those ion cannons. My new infiltrators Vs are useless, sadly (damn Dark Matter immunity), but maybe a cap of Sniper Vs can take down all the shields, and finally the cannons themselves. And it works, albeit slowly. Very slowly. While I work, a 6.6k ship CPA declares just after the 2 hour mark. Does the AI even have that many ships? I guess we'll see. I'll build a warhead just in case. And while I was looking away, the ion cannons died, but I'll have to postpone that hacking until after the CPA. Which is no doubt going to sync with some waves.

With 3 minutes left on the CPA timer, all the Spire Shield posts on Osmoian go down. This is a good tactic.

Waves hit at 2:16. Lots of it eats it to minefields. I have to pop a warhead. Attack 2k. Then I notice that there's 200 Mark 3 Zenith Siege engines wailing on my command station. Losgar falls, I lose the fabs. Shark triggers. Armored Golem dies. Ships start reaching the HW.EIGHT EMP GUARDIANS trigger on the HW.

I clearly underestimated the strength of a CPA on 10/10. I need more warheads. And turrets. I unlock grav turrets. Try two. I still die, but not as badly. 800 missile frigates is my undoing this time. I need to intercept the CPA as it hits on Imbar so that the defenses on Losgar can hold against the announced waves.

Except that doesn't work either. Next try is to use the armored golem directly on the carriers, since last try I found that it obliterates them.

Yeah, that failed too. By engineers proof this game is officially unwinnable. I'll try again on a better map.

Same settings as last time, except I'll turn off the Botnet and Fallen Spire, lower Spirecraft and Golems to 3/10, and switch a different map. Since I'm going to need a lot of cheese, starting ship is switched to Lightning Torpedo frigates. I'm leaving Shark on, of course. Actually, I'll turn the AIs into Chivalric/Random med-easy. Losing any of my capturables = losing in this kind of game, and I could probably do the whole survive thing if I can afford to lose planets.

Game priorities: Actually surviving the CPA at 2 hours. First wave goes just fine... huh, why are they just stopping in the minefield? *looks at ship types bar* TACHYON MICROFIGHTERS OH GOD. And then the second wave has EYE BOTS. AGAIN. Silly me, thinking the RNG was being nice with those map seeds.

Blood Angel gets capped at 38 minutes, and I gate raid Osiris to let me concentrate my mines. Teleporting Leeches, Hive golem, and Needler turrets captured. Defenses are all up by 43 minutes, and I start work on the Hive Golem. This thing should be able to tear apart any CPAs with a full load of wasps. And even better, my missile turrets and Command Station include the incoming wormhole in their range. I get my first starbase, Epsilon Erdani, then Destroyer Hull.

First wave against Blood Angel is 1300 ships. 1300 missile frigates, which manage to avoid my loving minefield. Half of them escape and make threat on Osiris. At least that's a dead end, so I can mop them up whenever. Except they immediately came back. And then, as usual, the resistance arrives at the end of the party. Keith, you need to take a look at the spawning logic for these guys, it feels like they only show up once you don't need their help anymore.

With the K from Blood Angel, unlocking Human Mod Forts. When combined with the rest of the mod forts, these guys are great. Also, holy crap that energy cost. Each one takes two whole matter converters to run. Hive Golem comes online at 1:23. Next up is taking Osiris as an energy production planet. Since it was preneutered, it fell immediately. AIP is at 50. I throw down a cap of sniper turrets to keep sneaky raids from destroying the command station. Spire mod fort and Gray spire base unlocked. For once, I'm running at a comfortable 200k energy.

Next wave is probably going to be the CPA, so I'll make a save.

In unrelated news, Osiris has the Exile. That things spawns a bunch of exos once I repair it, right?

Well, I was wrong about the next wave being a CPA, thankfully. This wave should give me a nice infusion of metal to finish up my defenses. The teleporting leeches sure pull their weight; my fleet practically doubled in size.

Agae has a bunch of threat on it because of the dumb resistance fighters suiciding on it, so I drop a full Hive on it. Now it doesn't even have guard posts. And now the Special Forces are coming to die too. No wonder these guys don't work on homeworlds, it would trivialize them. Agae ARS contains Powerslaver, Youngling Commandos, or Parasites. I'm just fine with getting Powerslavers.

New planet scouted!Ando Prime: Cursed Golem, ARS, MLRS Turret, Translocator, MLRS, and Protector Starship(!) fabs. And it's a core world. This means that Praetor has to be a homeworld, so getting eyes on it is a must.

2 hours, no CPA yet. I unlock HBC Is and place all of them on Blood Angel. Mod fort is finished as well. I didn't know that these things could mount HBCs, but it makes me happy.

I'd forgotten I have a Champion great for raiding, so I take out the one data center in the galaxy (so far). Which causes a wave to declare. Wave hits, wave dies, I lose 50k energy to reclamation. Where is that damn CPA? Does it take longer to charge up because of the Chivalric?

Oh. There it is.10,239 ships massing for Cross Planet attack in 10:00 I'd betting build some warheads. A full Hive will definitely help, though.2.6k ships announce and sync with the CPA. Only the one wave, though.

CPA hits. Thanks to the higher AIP, the AI is in fact capable of cashing that check. Cutting it as close as I dare, I drop a full Hiveload on Agae with some carriers on it. Those carriers die fast. Then the wave hits, and it dies fast, then what's left of the other 6 carriers throw themselves worthlessly on my defenses. My fleet is now 700 strong and I haven't unlocked any new fleetships beyond my fabs. Hooray for reclamation! Though I'm running like 3 matter converters to keep all these reclaimed ships.

Next up, take Agae. I pop the command station at 2:27, and wait for the special forces to leave. My command station goes up at 2:31, and I get 5 ion cannons for my troubles, including a Mk5.

By 2:37, the front line has been successfully moved to Agae, barring the modular forts. Spire archive is at 4k K done. First wave to Agae hits, is easily repelled. Important to note is that Chivalric AIs will still attack Ion cannons. I shouldn't be surprised.

Golem exo is 50% at 2:40. I also unlock Cruiser class, along with Spire hull, Neinzul Mourners base (hooray, more energy), and a few more modules.

In a pattern that is becoming all too familiar, I drop a hive full of wasps on Shatterlock, and use the clean path to get a scout onto Praetor.

Yep, that's a homeworld under a Planetary Cloaker. Which means I'm going to need to send at least one suicide mission to get rid of that, and hope that there isn't a CRE.I also get eyes on Merva, the other HW. Brutal picks are Core Raid Eye, Grav Reactor, and H/K factory. I was actually kind of a afraid that the HWs would be adjacent to each other, but it didn't happen.

Spire Archive pops at 2:54; I have 13k Knowledge. It would probably be worthwhile to buy Econ III stations just so I can power all my stuff. I move the Human mod fort to Agae. Just in time for a 2700 ship wave. Wave is smashed, and I try the Hive dump on Frozen Synapse. This doesn't work, because there's a bunch of gravity guardians roaming around the planet, and the OMD almost kills my golem. The hostile presence also triggers the H/K factory, so I've got one of those just chilling with the threat.

I finally get eyes on Ramesses: Black Widow Golem, Sniper turret, Decoy Drone, Impulse reaction emitter fabs, and a ZPG. If only that ZPG was closer to me.

Since I really need to get rid of that Planetary Cloaker, I start making a jumpship. I stick two bomber starship in it, and pop goes the cloaker. Praetor has an H/K factory and another Grav Reactor. At least there's no wrath lances or Teuthidas.

With Mil III Command Stations, it's not too much of a problem. Especially on a 10-system map, where you can drop one in almost every system.One of the many reasons Mil IIIs are My Favorite.

True, but it's more the FF-ignoring ability that sends the rageometer skyrocketing -- I've never had them get out of control (so far I've stomped them immediately every time they've unlocked), it's the thought of what they *could* do. It's going to be a bad, bad day whenever I decide to try playing against a Vorpal type...

It's not my #1 most hated unit in AI hands, but I see the current contender appears in the most recent updates Mad Rubicant posted...

*There's* my current #1 most hated ship under AI control! "That's a nice planet you have there, it sure would be a shame if anything happened to it from the far side of the gravity well..." Did you know they are also eligible for joining the SF? By the hundreds?

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By engineers proof this game is officially unwinnable. I'll try again on a better map.

The Edison approach to AI War -- "I have not failed, I've just found another way that doesn't work."

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Actually, I'll turn the AIs into Chivalric/Random med-easy. Losing any of my capturables = losing in this kind of game, and I could probably do the whole survive thing if I can afford to lose planets.

You're going to *enjoy* dual Chivalric CPAs, I guarantee it.

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Game priorities: Actually surviving the CPA at 2 hours.

A noble goal!

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First wave goes just fine... huh, why are they just stopping in the minefield? *looks at ship types bar* TACHYON MICROFIGHTERS OH GOD. And then the second wave has EYE BOTS. AGAIN. Silly me, thinking the RNG was being nice with those map seeds.

<snicker>

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And then, as usual, the resistance arrives at the end of the party. Keith, you need to take a look at the spawning logic for these guys, it feels like they only show up once you don't need their help anymore.

"So... that planet is full of hostile AI forces. They outnumber us 1000 to 1. Oh my, what strange luck, I'm having engine problems all of a sudden and won't be able to get there for a while." <5 minutes later, flies in and shoots the last AI ship> <later, bragging to the ladies at the bar> "Yeah so I was totally there for the famous battle of Murdersuo, saved the day and all."

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In unrelated news, Osiris has the Exile. That things spawns a bunch of exos once I repair it, right?

Where is that damn CPA? Does it take longer to charge up because of the Chivalric?

Oh. There it is.10,239 ships massing for Cross Planet attack in 10:00 I'd betting build some warheads. A full Hive will definitely help, though.2.6k ships announce and sync with the CPA. Only the one wave, though.

Beautiful. <adds more butter to popcorn>

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My fleet is now 700 strong and I haven't unlocked any new fleetships beyond my fabs. Hooray for reclamation! Though I'm running like 3 matter converters to keep all these reclaimed ships.

Kleptomania is not a mental illness, it's a perfectly valid command style!

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Important to note is that Chivalric AIs will still attack Ion cannons. I shouldn't be surprised.

Interesting, didn't know those were excluded from the no-target rule. I need to look up that list in the code at some point, because it's clearly not *all* irreplaceables.

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Yep, that's a homeworld under a Planetary Cloaker.

Almost choked on my drink laughing at this one.

Logged

Infiltrating hostile AI networks to rewrite reality.

[[Hacks available from this unit found on the AI War Modding subforum.]]

I start repairing the Arty Golem on Agae. Those exos are slowly ticking higher and higher. I dread what they look like on 10/10 with 60 AIP.

I need to be able to drop a hive on Frozen Synapse, but first I'll get rid of that pesky OMD. Jumpship to the rescue! With how many ships are on the planet - including two H/Ks and 20 Champion Frigates - it takes a while. My economy is in the toilet and I don't really have any uses for all this Knowledge. Unlocking Econ III Stations. I switch the Osiris station out with an Econ III, and suddenly I have 375k more energy to play with. These guys are really underrated for energy-tight games; their biggest problem is that they're not Mil IIIs.

Some threat takes the bait and attacks Agae. One H/K down. While I was doing this another one spawned. The special forces have also gotten inordinately large, though hopefully not to the point where a Hive can't kill them. I'm finally able to take out the OMD; let's hope the hive is effective. Before I can test it though, a 2900 wave hits and the threat attacks as well. I drop a hive, which takes a lot out of the threat, but the command station went down, so Shark triggers. I fall back to Blood Angel, and the wave is stonewalled there. I have huge reclaimed ship losses, so now I can scrap a few of my matter converters.

19,518 ships massing for Cross Planet attack in 10:00Oh right, it's 4 hours. I wonder how many ships will declare with this one. Fortunately, the Golem exo is only at 87%, so I won't have to deal with those syncing.

I got lucky, only 15k ships in the attack and no synced waves. The strategic reserve must be empty right now.

The first 11k hit. I drop a hive. Another 2k hit when there's 3k left, and get eaten by the wasps. Man, I love the hive golem. 2600 ships declare, 2600 threat. Threat is smart and doesn't join in on the attack.

Arty Golem finally comes online at 4:30. That took far too long. Spire mod fort finishes building at around the same time. They're just in time for the Golem exo. Which isn't scary at all, compared to the champion threatfleet. Or the special forces.

Now that there's finally a chance, I use my champion to eat the alpha strike and then drop a Hive on Frozen Synapse. Core world successfully neutered (except for the Fort III in the middle), and it ate a bunch of the special forces too. Granted, this spawned an H/K, but those things aren't scary at all. More importantly, an Arty Golem just wrecks forts. I'm able to pop it through the wormhole, get a shot off, and run away. This is an especially valuable ability when there's an H/K just waiting for blood.

It's time to take Shatterpoint. First up, I drop a hive to kill off the special forces, and once they're all gone, pop the command station. A Mil III immediately goes up, and I stick all my forces on top of the Archive, since it's next to a hostile wormhole, and then set up a full complement of turrets. As usual, this bankrupts me. I take out the last CSG-AThe ARS has Lightning Starships, and I get the Zenith mod fort, Shattered Pillar starbase, Projected Shadow Decoy, Zenith Hull (finally), Battleship class, Projected Munitions intensifier.

I unlock HBC IIs and Lightning II/III.While the archive ticks up, I get hit by a wave full of missile frigates, and learn just how powerful Arty is against carriers. He took out 300 ships in one shot.

5:20. Spirecraft exo hits. Spirecraft exo dies.5:30. Champion exo hits, does a ton of damage. It's really really stupid that champions have a metal cost of 2, they're worth waaaay more than that. Especially in groups, with all that shield stacking.

Right now I'm mostly waiting on my fancy shmancy golems, so I'll leave it off here. CPA #3 should declare soon.

5:40. I'm waiting for all these golems to repair. Currently Armored and Widow golems are coming up, with 2 Cursed golems sitting on Osiris for later. 1300 threat is milling about on Frozen Synapse, so I drop a hive on it. RIP threat. Armored Golem comes online at 5:50, so I put its engineers on the Widow. Widow comes up at 6:00, so I start on Curse #1. I wonder whether my golems will finish first or the CPA will declare.

29,277 Ships massing for Cross-Planet Attack in 9:38There's my answer. This should be fun. I'm going to make a bet that only 15k will show up. A wave declares and syncs, but it's a measly 1700 ships.Literally seconds before the CPA hits the cursed golem finishes. And the CPA turns out to be a measly 10k ships. Those overdraft fees. 10 minutes after it hits, the threat is just sitting outside my planets. Refusing to attack and give me scrap. So I drop a hive on them, H/Ks be damned.

At 6:25, the golem exo declares at 50%. I should have another hour or two before it hits; I'd better take Ando Prime and get ready for the constant supply of H/Ks first. Curse #2 comes on 6:34

I attempt an attack on the threatfleet on Ando Prime. It's a failure, and now there's a 6k reprisal coming at me. Reprisal dies, but threat attacks Shatterpoint and kills the command station. Shark waves die on Agae, giving me a nice chunk of scrap.

Now that all the threat on Ando Prime is gone, I can use my long range golems to destroy all the shields and guard posts. First a counter-sniper post goes down to prevent golem death by snipers. Except it doesn't, because of the special forces. I seem to have an intractable problem. Everything is under shields and the command station is a translocator, so artillery/cursed golems are my best option, but I need to get rid of the OMD first. I'll try jumpship shenanigans.

Attempt 1: Drop all my Raid starships on top of the OMD. Failure. While waiting for the raids to rebuild I buy Lightning Torpedo Frigate IIs. They're too good on the defense not to.Attempt 2: Screen the alpha strike with Fighter Vs. Failure. Attempt 2.5: Eat the special forces with a hive on Frozen Synapse.Attempt 3: Hacking! Success!

The planet is still a huge nut, though. I've got to deal with the remaining threat and distract the special forces before I can take it out.